Let's start with 10 reasons to use and not use digital wallets, the gains and drawbacks of financial digitisation?
To use: Convenience
The ease of conducting financial transactions is probably the biggest motivator to go digital. You will no longer need to carry wads of cash, plastic cards, or even queue up for ATM withdrawals. It’s also a safer and easier spending option when you are travelling.
To Use: Discounts
The recent waiver of service tax on card transactions up to Rs 2,000 is one of the incentives provided by the government to promote digital transactions. This has been followed by a series of cuts and freebies. It’s a good time to increase your savings if you take advantage of these.
0.75% discount on digital purchase of fuel means that the petrol price in Delhi at Rs 63.47 per litre can be brought down to Rs 62.99/l with digital payment.
Similarly, saving on rail tickets, highway toll, or purchase of insurance can help cut your costs. Add to these the cashback offers and discounts offered by mobile wallets like Paytm, as well as the reward points and loyalty benefits on existing credit and store cards, and it could help improve your cash flow marginally.
To use: Tracking spends
“If all transactions are on record, it will be very easy for people to keep track of their spending. It will also help while filing income tax returns and, in case of a scrutiny, people will find it easy to explain their spends,” says Manoj Nagpal, CEO, Outlook Asia Capital.
To use: Budget discipline
The written record will help you keep tabs on your spending and this will result in better budgeting. Controlled spending could also result in higher investing. If the same amount of cash does not flow back into circulation and people continue to use mobile wallets and cards, it is also likely to bring down the latte factor.
No Change Worries
This means that the Rs 10 you spent on candy or chips, or that regular cup of coffee office is likely to take a hit since you will be short of loose change and smaller currency notes. There’s a lesser chance of budgetary leaks and unaccounted for spends sneaking into your budget at the end of the month. It may not seem like much of an advantage, but being cashless makes it easy to ward off borrowers.
Another plus is that you can pay the exact amount without worrying about not having change or getting it back from shopkeepers.
Not to use: Higher risk of identity theft
“The biggest fear is the risk of identity theft. Since we are culturally not attuned to digital transactions, even well-educated people run the risk of falling into phishing traps,” says Nagpal.
The rising incidence of online fraud, the risk of hacking will only grow as more people hop on to the digital platform. Besides, the latest move by the government to remove the two-factor authentication process for online transactions up to Rs 2,000, will not help. Irrespective of the size of transaction, the absence of this additional layer of security will expose thousands to the risk of identity theft.
Not to use: Weak redressal system
Another weak link is the inadequate redressal mechanism.
“Given the tedious process and poor grievance redressal, people will have no easy recourse if they lose money online,” adds Nagpal. There is no stringent legal process to deal with this kind or scale of fraud. Add to it the mass identity theft from banks’ or companies’ databases and it can turn into a financial nightmare akin to the data bases and it can turn into a financial nightmare akin to the data breach in the Indian banking system in October this year.
Not To Use: What if you lose phone
Since you will be dependent on your phone for all your transactions on the move, losing it can prove to be a double whammy. It can not only make you susceptible to identity theft, but you could also be rendered helpless in the absence of physical cash or any other payment option. This can be especially problematic if you are travelling abroad or in smaller towns or villages with lack of banking infrastructure or other payment options.
Another drawback is that you need to keep your phone constantly charged. If the phone dies on you, you will be stranded, particularly if you are in the middle of an important purchase or dealing with an emergency.
Not To Use: Difficult for tech-unsavvy
India has a low Internet penetration of 34.8%(2016), according to the Internet Live Stats, and only 26.3% of of all mobile phone users have a smartphone (2015), as per Statista figures.
Besides the practical difficulty of going digital, “a bigger block is the psychological shift. You are suddenly jumping three generations to the digital medium,” says Pai. The digital medium may prove a challenge for the tech-unfriendly people, who will need more time to adapt or the availability of other options to conduct transactions
Not to use: May overspend
While there is no denying the convenience of card or mobile wallet transactions, it could open a spending trap for an unsuspecting population.
According to behavioural finance theorists, the pain of parting with money is felt more acutely if you use physical cash instead of a card. Hence, using cash instead of cards or mobile wallet acts as a natural bulwark for people who find it difficult to control their spending. “This is the reason that people could end up overspending, throwing their budgets into a disarray,” says Pai.
Besides, a high penetration of the digital payment system is contingent on the fact that the same amount of cash does not come back into circulation. If it does, people are more likely to switch back to the former ease of using cash as it is a habit that they may find difficult to break.